Shrinking U.S. Labor Unions See Relief in Marijuana Industry

The medical marijuana shop next to a tattoo parlor on a busy street in Los Angeles looks much like hundreds of other pot dispensaries that dot the city.

Except for one thing: On the glass door – under a green cross signaling that cannabis can be bought there for medical purposes – is a sticker for the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), the nation’s largest retail union.

The dispensary, the Venice Beach Care Center, is one of three medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles that are staffed by dues-paying union members. Another 49 in the city plan to enter into labor agreements with the UFCW, the union says.

Together, the dispensaries are a symbol of the growing bond between the nascent medical marijuana industry and struggling labor unions.

A licensed Canadian pot grower has announced it’s teaming up with the former national chief...

Comments

3 Comments

Mark on
February 7, 2013 1:45 pm

Pennsylvania is still fighting to privatize liquor stores? Puritan Fascism is alive and well in the Quaker state, I see!

Mrs. Ratsrectum on
February 7, 2013 12:20 am

¡Pennsylvania could really use union jobs in the cannabis sector!

¡Governor Tom Corbett wants to privatize the state-owned liquor system controlled by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board! Newspaper articles are reporting a loss of some 5,000 good-paying union jobs. He’s a Republican, and the type that enjoys breaking unions. I doubt seriously that he is going to set the stage to create that many jobs that pay that well in the private sector. Instead, they’re more likely to be McJobs for workers at liquor stores and other retail outlets.

Now, the PLCB was set up after Alcohol Prohibition [capitalization for emphasis] so once it’s privatized in order to keep those jobs plus set the stage for a lot of cannabis jobs in the private sector, Corbett should have the PLCB oversee cannabis regulation and distribution in the state. A mere change from PLCB, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to PCCB, Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board, is basically all that is needed. The agency can be in charge of issuing permits and licenses for commercial operations, labeling, age controls in establishments, and issuing Pennsylvania Cannabis Control ID cards. Once upon a time in Pennsylvania, a driver’s license wasn’t enough to get you served alcohol if you looked really young for your age. I speak from experience. You had to have a PLCB card since people often altered their driver’s licenses to appear to be 21 and the bars were scared as hell of getting nailed in a sting.

If you have states on the Canadian border close to Ottawa, Canadian politicians just might start doing something serious to legalize cannabis in Canada.